6 Madison County groups competing for $8,500 grant

Several Central New York non-profits are competing for an $8,500 grant.

The CNY85 Giving Project, launched by the Central New York Community Foundation, has the groups asking for public support for their projects.

Of the 27 projects in the running, six hail from Madison County.

Through the use of online voting, one group will receive the grant, which will be issued after voting ends on Dec. 31.

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There will only be one winner; it will be formally announced in mid-January.

Projects up for vote in Madison County include:

o The Cazenovia Area Community Development Association is developing an art trail to enhance promotions

o The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum wants to install a lift at the Smithfield Community Center to provide accessibility to the second-floor of the museum.

o The Partnership for Community Development, for the Great Chocolate Train Wreck Festival to be able to bring a Grammy-Award-winning children's musician to the Chocolate Train Wreck Festival in Hamilton .

o The Oneida Improvement Committee to develop a multi-use trail system in and around the City of Oneida.

o The Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum wants to construct an interactive model of a dry-dock and sluice-way once used on the Erie Canal.

Christine O'Neil, executive director of the museum, said that the model would be about 15 feet long and 6 feet wide and allow visitors to see how water would flow into dry-dock bays that were once stationed along the Erie Canal.

There currently is a partially-restored actual dry-dock at the museum -- the only one still in existence on the Canalway, according to O'Neil -- but it's not in working order. She estimates it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore the actual dry-dock.

The museum hopes that with the visual aid of the existing dry-dock and an interactive model, visitors would enjoy a hands-on learning experience .

The three-bay dry-dock was built in 1855. Craftsmen used it to repair the 96-foot cargo boats that plied the Canal with shipments of grain, lumber and other cargo to points east and west, said O'Neil.

A display inside the museum illustrates the dry-dock mechanism, but a working model would provide school-age children with lessons in gravity, water displacement and engineering, she said.

O'Neil said that every year, almost 2,000 fourth graders from school districts in Madison and Onondaga counties visit the museum on field trips to learn about the Erie Canal as part of their American history curriculum.

"This is hands-on archaeology," O'Neil said.

The CNY85 Giving Project was created by the Community Foundation to use its 85th anniversary as a way to highlight non-profit programs serving Central New York and drum up community support.

Over the course of the past year, the Community Foundation has awarded the $8,500 grants quarterly. This is the fourth and final grant that will be offered.

In order to view all projects and cast a vote for this quarter, visit: